Robert H

Thanks for posting this awesome tip, Robbie! Here's what it looks like when you click a trade triangle:

EDIT 16-APR-2018: With the help of Raymond W, we've been able to define a single hotkey for flipping an open position: Simulator: ROUTE=MARKET;Share=Pos*2;TIF=DAY+;SEND=REVERSE Interactive Brokers: ROUTE=SMRTM;Share=Pos*2;TIF=DAY+;SEND=REVERSE Note that this hotkey will send a market order. ===== I'm trying to define a single hotkey to switch an open position. For now, I was able to create two separate hotkeys for switching a long-to-short, and a short-to-long. Flip Long to Short ROUTE=SMRTL;Share=Pos*2;Price=Bid-.05;TIF=DAY+;SELL=Send Flip Short to Long ROUTE=SMRTL;Share=Pos*2;Price=Ask+.05;TIF=DAY+;BUY=Send

Question for you, how do you set up the daily level lines (highs & lows) on the chart? dotted orange lines Those are just regular the price levels (HorizontalLines) we add every morning while building the watch list.

Thanks for the tips, Paul. For some reason images stored on Google Drive don't play nicely with embedding. I've uploaded your media to Imgur and edited your post. Hope you don't mind.

Not that I'm aware of, Amy. IB's own platform, TWS, is free. DAS costs money whether you go with DAS Trader Pro or one of their re-branded packages, like SureTrader Pro.

Sweet desk, Ryan! Makes me want to get one too. I'll have to see what options we have up here in Canada. I'm an avid cable management enthusiast, if I say so myself. Spent hours with velcro, double-sided tape, and zip-ties to tuck away every single cable into my desk's built-in tray. You've done a great job also by the looks of it. are you satisfied across the board? I see what you did there, Lee. No pun intended? Have I ever told you that you're a stand-up guy? lol

I have been playing around with my sell/cover hotkeys to see which exit strategy fits my trading style best. I tried exiting in halves (position *0.5), thirds, and quarters. Here is a graph which compares each option and how many shares you have remaining after each press of the hotkey. For example, exiting in halves leaves 50% after the first press, 25% after the second press, 12.5% after the third, and so on. I settled with thirds as I have a tendency to exit my winners too early. Pressing the hotkey twice still leaves me with 45% of the original position. What percentage are others scaling out with?

Robert put the fear of god into me and now I’m thinking closer to 3 or 4 years put away. Lol! I meant to say that the more cushion you have, the better. One year's salary put away is more than most people (aspiring day trader or not). I plan to never go back to my old career, so a bigger nest egg gives me the confidence and patience to overcome the learning curve. Everyone's situation is unique and only you know what's best for you. It looks like you have developed a detailed plan there, Jason. Good on you and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the insight, Lee. You provide some valid points regarding people wanting to live vicariously through others. I guess that's why reality TV and celebrity lifestyle shows are so popular. The premise is wealthy people showing off how rich they are, in turn earning themselves more money. And this leads to even more followers. I hope Andrew doesn't go out and buy a Lambo--the chat would be flooded overnight lol. I understand people's attraction to money; I used to be a slave to the dollar myself. I think that everybody knows trading can be lucrative. This attracts all sorts of risk-takers, gamblers, impulsive, lazy people, etc. I guess these individuals need to see what successful traders are earning in order to validate their own objectives and goals. Perhaps justify the sacrifices they are currently making on their journey to become a professional trader? For me, day trading is a ticket to freedom. Something to cover my necessities so I can pursue other passions and spend valuable time with loved ones. Much like you, I am confident enough with Andrew's strategies to not really care about his daily P&L. He has already proven himself with his book, teaching, track record, online presence, etc. Personally, the daily fluctuations in someone else's bank account has zero effect on my life. Which reminds me of an old saying: Don't count other people's money.

Why are people so fixated with Andrew's big gains today? I know most of us in the chat were just joking around and busting his chops, but there are from people who seem really bothered by him not sharing his P&L. One chat subscriber sounded like he was robbed or deprived of something he was entitled to as a paying member. Another guy is calling Andrew a flat out liar. What am I missing here? I respect Andrew's decision. Firstly, I am more concerned about my own performance than anybody else's--whether that be another trader or a mentor. Secondly, what are we going to learn from the dollar figure? Andrew took abnormally large sizes on FORD today. The chat knew it, he knew it. It was the perfect example of how not to manage your risk as a trader. If the trade went south, I'm sure Andrew would have used it as learning opportunity for the rest of us. "You learn more from other people's failures than their successes." After having posted his wins and losses in over 200 YouTube videos--from +3000 to -1800--I think Andrew has every right not to announce his monster win. Most traders would be yelling from a rooftop right now. Andrew trades with us every day and invites the entire world to watch him at his best--and at his worst. I think a moment of privacy is well deserved. Back to my original question. Do people want to fantasize about making the same amount one day? Do they think he is hiding something from us? Bragging rights that their chat is better than another? Or is it just plain curiosity? Please help me understand this infatuation with the dollar figure.

Thanks, Lee. I saw your other post confirming that the update has fixed the "stuck anchor bug" when loading default into a new Montage. For anybody stumbling on this, that issue was discussed here.

JUNO Bull Flag Momentum and Top Reversal - January 18, 2018 JUNO has shot up 50% since the recent buyout news. Yesterday it was #2 on the Nasdaq top gainers list. Today I traded it twice. First Trade: At around 11:40, I caught the latter half of a $5 surge. My entry was $72.80 after it consolidated and made a new high on the 1 minute chart. I rode the momentum all the way to the HOD--and all time high--of $74.35. Second Trade: Immediately after, I saw a bearish engulfing candle form along with some large bids on L2. It had failed to make a new 5 minute high and had nowhere to go but down. Traders were bound to take profit at some point--especially at a new all-time high. I went short at $73.40 with a target at the 9 EMA. I took profit all the way down to $71.75. Afterward it consolidated around the MA and finally returned to VWAP, where it bounced around until the close.

Somebody in the chat was unable to see their trades on the Chart today (green and red triangles). Here is how to add or remove them. 09/23/2019 UPDATE: in the new version we move it to the Chart Area Configure window, right click the chart->Chart Area->Configure Area Thank you to Seth who reported this in the chat Double-click the chart, or right-click and select Study Config Highlight Price (Candle) Click Config At the bottom, there are options to Show Trades (executions) and Show Orders (open stop/limit orders)

Here is a tip that was shared by Andrew in the chat. I forgot who e-mailed it to him, but all credit goes to that person. DAS has a tendency to zoom out the Chart when you switch symbols in Market Viewer (watch list). Somebody posted a related question over on this post. To prevent this, do the following: Right click the chart area Click Configure In the Margins settings on the right hand side, uncheck Fixed Margin

Ryan W wrote an excellent piece on building your own PC here.

I don't necessarily get out of the Bull Flag trade after 15 seconds, but I sure have my fingers on the trigger ready to sell at break-even. The reason being is that my entry is on a new 5 min high. The price has consolidated already (one of my criterion for entry). So if it fails to pop up within time, then it is either going down or sideways. Both of these outcomes are not what you want to see during a momentum trade. As I type this, Andrew is trading GNC using the 1 minute and 5 minute chart. He got out of this last trade at break-even as it failed to break new high of the day. There's no point in waiting to sell at your original stop loss if the setup has broken down. I've been taking less and less VWAP False Breakouts. What I mean by decisively is that the price ticks towards one direction after closing above/below VWAP. If I see the price marker really choppy, then we are probably going to rubber-band for a bit around the level. I give it 2-5 minutes to make up it's mind. Candle height isn't that big of a factor; I'm more concerned with choppiness. Volume isn't that important to me in this strategy as long as the stock is in play and hasn't stalled. Funny--as I finish writing this post Andrew just bailed out of a VWAP trade on AA with a tiny profit. Reason being: did not like the price action. It was just too choppy. These are my thoughts after a couple months of paper trading and observing Andrew. Your mileage may vary.

It looks like your chart is zoomed out. Try scrolling the mouse wheel up or pressing + on the number pad to zoom in. You can also press F2 to re-load the 5 min chart with default Zoom Fit settings. Here is a post on how to prevent DAS from zooming out when switching symbols.

I've just analyzed my first two months in simulator and here is my equity curve before reading Trading in the Zone: Winning Trade Percentage: 40% ...and after reading Trading in the Zone: Winning Trade Percentage: 55% More importantly, my average win amount vs. average loss amount has doubled. It used to be $0.80 won for every $1 lost; now the ratio is $1.5:$1. The book has really instilled the confidence required to (1) pursue good setups without hesitation, and (2) get out with small losses. I still have a long way to go before I am consistently profitable in a live account, but it's great to see that Trading in the Zone has made a measurable, quantitative impact on my paper trading results. Can't recommend this book enough!

To link the symbol in Chart and Montage, drag and drop the anchor icon in Montage to the Chart. It is the one in the second row, just to the right of Vol. There is a hotkey to select the Montage, but it appears to be broken when using multiple Montages. This thread has further info. If you are using a single station--as it appears to be in your screenshot--then you should be OK. Define the hotkey by going to menu Setup > Hot Key. The command is SwitchTWnd. Note if you are using Andrew's hotkey file, it should already be there: Name: select activate montage trading window Key: END Command(s): SwitchTWnd

The terminology is not consistent in DAS, and this leads to confusion. What Lee and I are referring to as Hotkeys: -Ability to program executions, chart switching, zoom, etc. via keyboard commands -Andrew provides a hotkey file for onboarders (Hotkey.htk) -Configured by menu path: Setup > Hot Key -These commands are global and work across all Montages, as well as charts and within DAS generally What Lee and I are referring to as Hot Buttons: -The execution buttons located in the Montage window -Andrew demonstrates how to create the buttons here -Configured by right-clicking Montage > Layout Config > adding Hotkey to Window > Adding rows and buttons -Montage-specific. Can create different buttons for each Montage -When loading a new Montage from default, the hot buttons are loaded as well. However, new Montage becomes forever linked to first Montage (the bug being discussed in this post) -Seems you have to create the hot buttons manually in each additional Montage (to avoid the "linked" issue) I hope that clears things up.

I'm not aware of a way to load hot buttons only. You would have to add them manually for each additional Montage (add hotkey to layout config, add row, add buttons, etc).

I've only been in simulator for 2 months, but here's my 2 cents: It's part experience, and part gauging your indicators, price action, L2, volume, order flow, etc. I try to process as much information as possible while in a trade. Andrew gives a good example in class 4. He got out of a position before his stop loss because there was resistance at a Moving Average on the 1 minute chart. It wasn't evident from watching the 5 minute chart alone. Personally, I look for different things depending on the strategy. For example, I went long a Fallen Angel strategy and exited well before my mental stop loss. The setup was not panning out as it should, so I decided to exit. What's the point of holding on to a low probability play? For something like a Bull Flag Momentum, if the price/volume doesn't begin surging after a new 5 min high is made (within 5-15 seconds), it could be a head fake--and possibly a dump. I also watch Level 2 closely during momentum plays. For VWAP False Breakout, if the price doesn't move decisively away from VWAP within a few minutes, then it's an indication that we may chop sideways. I get out and wait for a better opportunity. I've learned that getting out before your stop loss is okay. Commissions are cheap and you can always get back in.

Thanks for sharing, Carlos! Great journal format. I'll have to give OneNote a try